catalan cinema

The Catalan Government’s Deputy Minister for External Affairs, Roger Albinyana, announced the Executive’s aim to have a network of “about 50 delegations” throughout the world, representing Catalonia’s political, business and cultural interests abroad. The Catalan Government currently has 7 delegations abroad, after the new representations in Rome and Vienna start to work on Monday, when the representatives were appointed. The 5 others are located in Brussels, London, Paris, Berlin and Washington. In the coming “months and years”, the Catalan Government will continue to open new delegations. Regardless of the hypothetical independence from Spain, the Catalan Executive already has the powers to have its own External Action policy, recognised by the Catalan Statute of Autonomy from 2006, although with many limitations.

Catalan cinema is getting ready for the 7^th edition of its annual ‘Oscars’ ceremony, the Gaudí Awards. The event, organised by the Catalan Film Academy, will take place next Sunday at the Sant Jordi Club in Barcelona and will be hosted by the Catalan actor and theatre director Àngel Llàcer. ‘El Niño’, the Catalan co-production directed by Daniel Monzón, and ‘Stella Cadente’, directed by Luis Miñarro, compete in the Best Director, Best Film and Best Script categories with 15 and 13 nominations, respectively. They are followed by the horror film ‘[REC]4: Apocalipsis’, with nine nominations, together with ‘10,000km’ and ‘Rastres de Sàndal’, with eight nominations each.  

The Catalan film director Isabel Coixet, most known for her internationally proclaimed films ‘My Life Without You’ (2003) and ‘The Secret Life of Words’ (2005), has been selected to open this year’s upcoming Berlin International Film Festival with her newest work ‘Nobody Wants the Night’. The film, inspired by true events, has been and adapted to the screen by writer Miguel Barros. It is set in early 20^th century Iceland and tells the inspiring tale of two women who risked their lives for the polar adventurer Robert Peary.

The Academy of Catalan Cinema has released the nominees for the 7 Gaudí Awards, the main annual prizes recognising Catalan motion film productions. ‘El Niño’, by Daniel Monzón, tops the ranking with 15 nominations, including Best Non-Catalan Language Film, Best Director and Best Script. However, the movie is nominated twice in two categories (Best Actor and Best Secondary Actor), so it could only win 13 awards at the most. It is followed by ‘Stella Cadente’, with 13 nominations; ‘[REC] 4: Apocalipsis’ with 9; and ’10,000 KM’ and ‘Rastres de Sándal’, both of which have received 8 nominations. The 4 nominees for Best European Film are ‘Ida’ by Pawel Pawlikowski (Poland); ‘La grande bellezza’ by Paolo Sorrentino (Italy); ‘La isla mínima’ by Alberto Rodríguez (Spain); and ‘Magical Girl’ by Carlos Vermut (Spain). The awards ceremony will take place in Barcelona on 1 February.

The Catalan Film Academy has announced the 10 European films to be candidates for the 7^th Gaudí Awards, the main cinema competition in Catalonia. Among others, these include: 'Deux jours, une nuit' ('Two days, one night'), written and directed by Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne; 'La grande belleza' ('The great beauty'), directed by Paolo Sorrentino; 'La Vénus à fourrure' ('Venus in Furs'), by Roman Polanski; 'Nymphomaniac: Vol. I and Vol. II', written and directed by Lars von Trier; and, the Spanish 'La isla mínima', directed by Alberto Rodríguez. The award ceremony will take place in Barcelona at the end of January. The nominations were selected by a committee appointed by the Board of the Catalan Film Academy.

On Wednesday the Catalan Parliament passed two important bills. With 74% support, it has approved the Law of External Action and Relations with the EU. Only two parties voted against it, the Spanish nationalist People’s Party (PP) – which runs the Spanish Government – and Ciutadans (C’s). A third party, the alternative left and radical independence party CUP, abstained because it considered that the law was not “ambitious enough”. All the rest supported the bill, which mainly puts in order the existing bodies and mechanisms, although it also creates some new ones, in line with the Catalan Government’s powers in this area, recognized by the Catalan Statute of Autonomy. The other bill is the tax on Internet suppliers, which aims to fund the Catalan audiovisual sector, affected by Internet piracy. No party voted against it. The new tax aims to collect some €20.5 million per year and it is welcomed by the cinema industry, and rejected by the main Internet suppliers.

The 26^th edition of Girona´s Film Festival runs from the 15^th to the 19^th of July and will screen 175 films; a mix of feature films and short movies from 35 different countries. The festival will kick off with the restored version of Josep Maria Forn´s Los Culpables, shot in Girona in 1962. The event will also contain a new section entitled ´Made in Costa Brava Girona´, which will showcase new and old films shot in the north-eastern part of Catalonia. The festival is made up of 14 sections, six of which will include the presentation of non-monetary awards. Acclaimed Spanish designer, Javier Mariscal, will be a member of the judging panel.

Catalan cinema will once again play a significant part in this year’s prestigious Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale), with the presentation of two feature films and one short-film. The Catalan co-production Aloft ('No ploris, vola'), by Claudia Llosa, who also directed the 2009 Golden Bear winner The Milk of Sorrow, will compete in the official section of the festival, held between the 6^th and the 16^th of February. ‘El somni’ (The Dream) directed by Franc Aleu and centred on the creative dishes of the Roca brothers, universally acclaimed Catalan Chefs, will be screened during the ‘Culinary session’ of the festival. Finally, short-film lovers will discover ‘TABA, El Juego En La Mesa’ (TABA, Table Games), directed by Pep Gatell and Eloi Colom, and produced by the ‘Fura dels Baus’ a Barcelona theatrical group famous for its innovative performances.

The apocalyptic blockbuster Los Últimos Días (‘The Last Days’) and the intense quasi-documentary La Plaga (‘The Plague’) took home top honours at the Catalan film industry awards, which took place in Barcelona on Sunday evening. The decision by the workers from the Catalan Public Television Broadcaster not to air the ceremony was present throughout with many personalities from the world of cinema displaying their support for the protesters. The President of the Catalan Film Academy, Isona Passola, condemned this decision in her address. Contemporary drama Tots Volem el Millor per a Ella (‘Puzzlement’) was also recognised in the gala, picking up both Best Leading Actress for Nora Navas and Best Supporting Actress for Clara Segura, while big nominees Fill de Cain (‘Son of Cain’) and Grand Piano went home empty-handed.

Catalan Director Albert Serra’s latest film, Història de la meva mort (The story of my death), which won the Golden Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival, is now screening in Barcelona cinemas. The Catalan Director has been praised internationally for his creativity and innovative style. In this film, Serra has reflected on the transition from rationalism to romanticism by focusing on two emblematic figures: Casanova and Dracula. Serra has linked two different imaginaries: first addressing the rationalism of the eighteenth-century, embodied by a “sensual” Casanova, “communication and command, which will succumb to the world of romance where everything is metaphysical, esoteric and violent”. Dracula will epitomise nineteenth-century romanticism.

The 46^th edition of the International Festival of Fantastic Film of Catalonia ended on 20^th of October in Sitges (Greater Barcelona) on a very successful note. Ticket sales and public interest reached new highs while supernatural thriller Borgman was awarded ‘Best Film’. Fan favourite Charles Dance received ‘Time Machine Award’, Israeli directors Aharon and Navot Papushado Keshales won ‘Best Director’ and British actress Juno Temple and Chinese actor Andy Lau were also distinguished.

The Plague (‘La Plaga’), directed by Neús Ballús, is one of the 5 nominees in the ‘European Discovery’ category of the European Film Awards. In an exclusive interview with the Catalan News Agency from the BFI London Film Festival – in which Ballús is participating – , the film-maker explained that her movie’s nomination was totally “unexpected”. Ballús is very “impressed” by this decision, which she considers is “a recognition of movies made in a smaller and more humble dimension”.  She stressed that many Catalan movies have this dimension, which also gives them greater freedom to experiment.

The 16th edition of the DocsBarcelona festival increased audience figures by 40% compared to 2012. The festival organisation thinks that one of the reasons for such an increase is the fact that they have moved the event from winter to spring. Furthermore, the improvement in the festival’s communication and image management as well as the higher number of movies shown and sessions held could also be behind the positive 2013 figures. Joshua Oppenheimer’s ‘The Act of Killing’ received the best movie award for its work picturing Anwar Congo’s death squads in Indonesia. Catalan Eva Vila’s ‘Bajarí’ received the jury’s special mention.

The 15th edition of the International Short Film and Animation Festival of Barcelona, known as Mecal Pro, has ended after 350 short films were selected from over five thousand and were projected for a month. An increase in participation, the extension of the festival’s length and the importance given to the animation genre were the main features of this year’s edition. This year’s biggest winners were ‘El otro’ (‘The other’) by Jorge Dorado and ‘Misterio’ (‘Mistery’) by Chema García Ibarra. The FX Animation new award goes to the Dutch film ‘Junkyard’ and the best international short film award to ‘Solitudes’, by French director Liova Jedlicki.

The 19th edition of the Latin American Film Festival in Lleida ended last weekend after showing 117 films from 14 different countries. Argentine film director Gustavo Garzón’s movie 'Por un tiempo' (‘For a time’) had its world premiere while honorary awards were delivered to Spanish actor José Coronado and Mexican actor Damián Alcazar. 'Porcelain horse' (Mejor no hablar de ciertas cosas), directed by Ecuador’s Javier Andrade, won the Best Film Award. The budget for this year’s edition had been reduced by 24% and the Festival was forced to remove documentary and retrospective sections from the programme.